


More Human Than Human

by antisocialTailor



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Androids, Death, Death Row, Gen, Memories, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-10
Updated: 2012-05-10
Packaged: 2017-11-05 03:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/401797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antisocialTailor/pseuds/antisocialTailor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time meant nothing in Aperture. The only time you needed to know, if you were a core, was when the subjects were to test and when you were to die.<br/>It was her time; and she knew it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Human Than Human

tenaciouslyCareful began discussion with grandAdventure

 

TC: …Rick…?

TC: …Are you there…?

TC: …I have a problem…

TC: …Rick…?

GA: ‘mmm?

GA: A’w shucks TC didn’ mean ta miss ya.

GA: Ya doing okay?

TC: …No….

GA: Nah? What’s the matter?

GA: Can lil ol’ Ricky help ya in that matter?

TC: …I’m in that place…

GA: Are ya ser’ious?

TC: …I’m afraid so…

GA: Shu’cks. I thin’ I need to bust ya out, huh?

TC: …Possibly…

GA: Be down soon.

 

grandAdventure ceased discussion with tenaciouslyCareful

 

With a deep sigh, the woman known as TC took a seat in the waiting room, fingers gripping the metal chair’s arms. She had been sent down to Android Hell for disobeying her parameters.

She let GLaDOS disconnect her circuitry from the supercomputer’s. And then, she watched, without a word as that human girl (Chell? Was that her name?) lifted her and took her towards the incinerator. Neither of them spoke, but somehow, her optic detected that the brown haired woman felt…sympathy? Sadness? Regret?

Morality didn’t know. She had a good understanding of human emotions and of course, how these emotions affected a humanoid such as herself. But, she hadn’t seen any human emotions for years.

How many had it been since she had seen **his** face? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? She had lost track of time. Time meant nothing in Aperture. The only time you needed to know, if you were a core, was when the subjects were to test and when you were to die.

It was her time; and she knew it.

She was the one who told GLaDOS to simulate daylight at all times, but it was the supercomputer’s decision to add the adrenal vapor to the oxygen supply. Morality knew that humans couldn’t run on just adrenaline forever.

She had been human once.

What had her name been?

Serene.

No, that was wrong.

Seryna…

Yes.

_Yes. That was it._

_That was her **name**_.

Where was she from? Could she even remember? Could she remember anything before she was a core? Her hands slid through her fake purple hair, fingers reaching behind her and looking at the plug that allowed her to connect to the facility. The ends of it were cracked and it had taken damage.

Damage from GLaDOS’ angry spirit somewhere inside of her.

“Hello?” A quiet, childish voice piped up and the attempt at remembering who she had been was abandoned, the thoughts fleeting. “I’m different…” Standing in front of the taller core, was a small girl. Her eyes were bright red and she wore a white hood over her head, two white braided pigtails the only evidence that she had hair. “I won’t hurt you…”

Morality knelt down, extending a gloved hand to the girl. Who was she? What was she doing here? The small girl shook her head, and pulled the hood tighter around herself and the android could see a small scratched central core, where her artificial heart was stored. A Turret.

Sent to…Android Hell?

“Her name is Caroline…”

Morality knew that. She had heard the girl screaming for a man named Mr. Johnson, inside of GLaDOS’ inner circuits. Their memories were shared, GLaDOS and hers’. GLaDOS knew that Morality had been taken from her bed and made into a core. Morality knew of GLaDOS’ hidden past and the hatred for that core that was bubbling underneath their friendly appearance.

“She isn’t gone.” The small android took a step towards Morality, who kneeled down even farther, now sitting on her toes, heels raised up from the floor. “She’s going to come back. She’ll turn her back on.”

The walls shook and a chunk of it fell towards the little girl.

Immediately, Morality let out a shriek, her damaged voice box not allowing her to make as loud of a shriek as she had desired, and grabbed the girl, pulling her away from the falling debris. More and more of it began to fall and the small Turret, who knew things that she shouldn’t, looked at Morality.

“It won’t be enough.”

What was she referring to? The building and Morality’s, in vain, protection? The fact that that girl, Chell, had taken GLaDOS down? What was the girl talking about?

“Damn lil lady. I reck’on that ya need s’um help ov’r there, eh.” That voice, that iconic voice that Morality only needed to hear once to know who it was, called out. Rick was standing in front of the two of them, green hair slicked back and his optics whirled at the site of the small girl. “Who she? I dun recall ya talking ‘bout no lil runt.”

Morality shook her head quickly and pushed the girl towards Rick, pleading with her eyes. _Take her. Get her out of her. She’s going to be helpful, somehow._ Rick furrowed his brow, lifting the girl on his shoulder, who let out a scream.

“She is needed; take her with us. Don’t let her take these lemons!” This girl was insane, thrashing, reaching for the Morality android, who simply shook her head and kissed Rick’s forehead, pointing towards the way to get back to the main chamber.

“Are ya sure ya gon be a’right?” Morality shook her head, and he knew her answer was true. She was going to die here. He knew it. The little turret knew it. She knew it.

Rick nodded once, bowed his head and quickly began making his way towards the chamber entrance. The buildings shook and Morality watched as he stumbled, fingers pressed into the glass of the window.

With a determined thought in her heart, she turned back to the debris falling. With quick movements, she moved towards the door to Android Hell, stepping on the fallen pieces of the ceiling. Her hands held on to the door and the walls, keeping herself balanced. And then, it all stopped.

The shaking, the breaking, all of it. It stopped.

Because she had jumped through the door and was plummeting down, down the fiery place, down, down, down, down. Down towards Android Hell.

 

_“Can you tell me what your name is, sir?”_

_“Mine?”_

_“Yes, please. I’d like to know your name. You have… kind eyes… Mum always told me that a man with kind eyes should always be spoken to… And for that to happen…”_

_“You need my name…”_

_“Yes… Mine is Seryna by the way. But you can call me Ryna. I don’t think I’m gonna be… Seryna for much longer huh? I’m gonna die here aren’t I?”_

_“No, you won’t Ryna.”_

_“I will, Mister-“_

_“Rattmann. Doug Rattmann.”_

_“I’m going to die here, Doug…”_

_“No, you’re not. Seryna will. But you won’t.”_

_“But if I’m not Seryna, then what will I be?”_

_“You must ask yourself that. What should you be?”_

_“Myself, of course.”_

_“Names aren’t what you are. Names at what you think you are.”_

_“So my name isn’t me. I’m me.”_

_“Exactly…”_

_“Then what are you?”_

_“…You tell me what you are and then I will tell you what I am…”_

_“I’m moral.”_

_“And I’m mad.”_

_He had smiled at her._

_“All of the best people are…” You had replied, touching his face through the glass._

_“My daughter told me the same thing.”_

_“Your daughter?”_

_“Chell… She wants me to tell you that she’ll see you someday and that when you two meet, she’s going to hug you so tight. Because her little friend thinks that you two will meet some day.”_

_“You never know…”_

_“The operation has to start now…Goodbye Seryna…”_

_“Goodbye Doug…”_

And she closed her eyes.

Chell….

Doug had been right.

She had been hugged by that little girl.

Chell had kept her promise…


End file.
